Good morning! Two deep-cover Russian spies — a married couple with children — were released by Slovenia and flown to Russia in last week’s prisoner swap. Their parents were so deep in this thing, these kids didn’t know they were Russian. They found out on the flight to Moscow. Anyone know what the therapy scene looks like in Russia?

AMERICAS

🌎 Maduro tries to hang on in Venezuela

Say goodbye to massive protests, arresting dissenters, and ransacking the opposition. Venezuela’s political unrest was solved over the weekend as dictator Nicolás Maduro came clean about rigging last week’s presidential election and resigned. Just kidding. It’s all getting worse.

Maduro claimed victory and was declared the winner with a slim 51% of the vote (Putin would never). But an analysis of voting tabulations shows the opposition winning more than 2-to-1.

• Election monitors from the (Jimmy) Carter Center who were in Venezuela for the vote say the race was stolen.

• The U.S. formally recognizes opposition candidate Edmundo González as the winner.

Protestors are going hard right now, supported by opposition leader María Machado.

• González was a last-minute stand-in candidate after Maduro banned Machado from running. His current whereabouts are unknown.

U.S. Senators of both parties are taking swings at the Organization of American States (OAS) for not coming out hard enough against Venezuela on this. An OAS vote last week to push Maduro to come clean (10/10 idea, gang) failed after Colombia and Brazil withheld support.

The what, now? The OAS. It's based in Washington, D.C. It's a diplomatic forum for North and South American governments, all but two of whom are members (so, 33/35 countries).

• Cuba and Nicaragua were members. They were both shown the door for, well, being baddies.

• The four European countries with territory in the Americas (France, the U.K., Denmark, and the Netherlands) are official observers, as are dozens of other countries around the world.

Why’s Maduro so unpopular? Venezuela has the largest proven crude oil reserves in the world (sorry, Saudi Arabia). But its economy has tanked by 75% since Maduro took power as millions of people flee the country.

• A recent oil boom launched neighboring Guyana into the economic stratosphere, making it the world’s fastest-growing economy.

• Understandably, Venezuelans want a piece of that action. So, obviously, Maduro started drilling threatened to invade.

What’s next? Diplomatic efforts to verify the results and push Maduro out are ongoing. But Venezuela’s government and court system are loyal to him, so they’re not likely to shove him overboard without being forced.

2024

🥈 2024 Veepstakes: Democratic edition

The Trump v. Harris matchup is officially official. After a virtual vote of Democratic convention delegates, Kamala Harris is now her party’s nominee for president. Next step? Pick a VP.

This is widely regarded as the first “presidential” decision a candidate makes. And it’s important: 20% of presidents have died or resigned, instantly giving the vice president a huge promotion.

The vetting process: Harris's campaign, with help from the law firm of former Obama-era U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, began digging through the backgrounds of potential VPs weeks ago.

• That process is now complete. Holder visited Harris at One Observatory Circle on Saturday. That's the big house at D.C.'s Naval Observatory that's served as the VP's official residence since 1974 (shockingly, VPs were on their own before that).

• Later that day, Harris met with her team for in-depth briefings on each potential candidate.

• On Saturday and Sunday, she reportedly interviewed six VP wannabes

Who’s on the shortlist: Gov. Andy Beshear of Kentucky, Transporation Sec. Pete Buttigieg, Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona, Gov. J.B. Pritzker of Illinois, Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, and Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota.

• Shapiro and Walz are the rumored finalists.

• Walz is an affable former high school teacher and Army vet. His selection might be aimed at winning over the white working-class voters that sealed the deal in the Midwest for Trump in 2016. But he could be seen as too liberal.

• Shapiro is the whip-smart lawyer who served as Pennsylvania's Attorney General while Kamala Harris held the same gig in California. He might help seal the deal in his electorally critical home state. But some progressives aren’t fans.

All six of these guys are running around campaigning hard for Harris (begging without begging). Any one of them could be the winner. Pritzker's family billions (they own Hyatt) could come in clutch in a campaign. And Mark Kelly has an identical twin, which would open great opportunities for shenanigans.

Harris will appear with her running mate tomorrow evening at a rally in Philly. So this decision is coming in hot.

UNITED STATES

🇺🇸 The Secret Service said agency personnel at the Butler, PA Trump rally “were not aware” Trump’s assailant had a firearm “until they heard gunshots.” Sniper coverage of campaign events for Trump, Harris, and their running mates will be increased going forward.

🪖 The U.S. Army is adding two new basic training locations, in Oklahoma and Missouri, as it successfully reverses years of sagging recruiting numbers. This year’s target is 55,000 new soldiers.

👨‍⚖️ Some Democratic senators are throwing cold water on Biden’s plan for Supreme Court term limits, saying the change would require a constitutional amendment.

POLITICS

⚪ The debate debate rages on. September 4? September 17? ABC? Fox News? Team Trump says Harris agreed to Trump’s demand for a debate hosted by Fox News. Harris claims that never happened. Her team says she’s attending ABC’s debate, initially scheduled for Biden and Trump. Trump wants a “FULL ARENA AUDIENCE!” on Fox or bust.

🔴 Donald Trump’s longtime feud with Mark Zuckerberg might be over. Trump claims Zuck, who publicly called Trump’s reaction to the assassination attempt “badass,” called him recently to apologize after Meta AI claimed the shooting didn’t happen. Zuck recently broke with his Democratic past by declining to endorse Harris but didn’t go as far as some other tech titans by endorsing Trump.

🔴 JD Vance is workshopping his response to the claim that he’s a drag on Trump. His newest idea? VPs don’t even matter. “It doesn’t really matter, as much as this hits my ego. People are going to vote primarily for Donald Trump or for Kamala Harris. That’s the way these things go.”

🔵 The Harris campaign is warning donors against being duped by the bipartisan problem of so-called Scam PACs. These political action committees are outside groups that raise money to support candidates. The more ethically loosey-goosey PACs spend only a tiny fraction of their cash supporting candidates, with the rest going to huge salaries and lavish business trips vacations.

🔴 The Republican National Committee lost its legal battle with Google. The RNC filed a lawsuit claiming Gmail labels Republican fundraising emails as spam at a much higher rate than similarly annoying Democratic pleas. A federal judge tossed the suit, saying the RNC hadn’t demonstrated that Google’s alleged actions were illegal.

🔵 Seven-fingered Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) is facing a tough reelection bid in deep red Montana against his ex-Navy SEAL Republican opponent. And a quote from his 2020 book isn’t helping. In the book, Tester says he “loved” a Pearl Jam poster portraying Donald Trump dead on the White House lawn. Attack ads launching in 3…2…

TRIVIA

The NRA made a wild endorsement last week and threw its support behind the reelection bid of Rep. Mary Peltola — a Democrat from Alaska. The massive gun rights org and Democrats don’t usually mix. But that wasn’t always the case — the NRA used to regularly endorse pro-gun Dems. Which 2020 Democratic presidential candidate was first elected to Congress with the backing of the NRA?

Hint: We’re talking about a current U.S. Senator.

WORLD

🇹🇼 Chinese Taipei: Taiwan isn’t happy with the Olympics after security tore up a fan’s “Taiwan go for it” sign and kicked him out. The Olympics force Taiwan to use the name “Chinese Taipei” (Taipei is Taiwan's capital) in competition to avoid angering China, which views Taiwan as a separatist region rather than a sovereign nation.

🇺🇸 United States: The death penalty is back on the table for three 9/11 terrorists. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin nixed the controversial deal the men signed with military prosecutors at Guantanamo Bay. For good measure, Austin also booted the person responsible and put himself in charge of the situation.

🇻🇳 Vietnam: To Lam cemented his control of Vietnam over the weekend when he was appointed General Secretary of the Communist Party. Lam was already president. But in communist countries, the party leader is the real man in charge. Vietnam, though communist, has liberalized its economy and is now a manufacturing powerhouse that's inching ever closer to the United States in reaction to regional Chinese domination (basically: forget the war, we're tight now).

BRIEFS

• Chevron will move its HQ to Houston — turns out the energy giant was based in the San Francisco area this entire time

• Intel stock crashed 30% last week after the company forgot it was supposed to earn money — they’re cutting 15,000 jobs as a result

• Some Europeans worry the U.S.-Europe-Russia prisoner swap will incentivize Russia to imprison more innocent people

• Tulsa, Oklahoma is considering reparations, financial or otherwise, for those affected by the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre

• California Forever, the billionaire-backed plan to build a new city near San Francisco, will not go to a public vote for approval in November

• Al-Shabab, a regional affiliate of terror group Al-Qaeda, killed over 30 people at a beachside hotel in Mogadishu, Somalia

• The U.S. embassy in Beirut is urging U.S. citizens to get out of Lebanon ASAP as tensions with Israel escalate

QUOTE

SNACKS

🌶️ Hawk Tuah: Haliey Welch is speedrunning her way to a Hawk Tuah-themed business empire. First, it was merch, an agent, and a $30,000 appearance fee. Now she’s filed for a trademark on the term and is working on launching a line of sauces, a gambling site, and more.

💉 NAD+: Move over, Ozempic. There’s a new sheriff in town. Celebs are getting the elixir of youth the old-fashioned way: injected straight into the bloodstream. Business Insider takes a look at how to boost that babyface of yours a little more naturally.

🇯🇴 Royals: No, it’s not the cast of a new show on Bravo. It’s the Jordanian royal family. And they’ve got a new baby in tow. Crown Prince Hussein and Princess Rajwa welcomed a baby girl, the first grandchild of King Abdullah II. However, due to agnatic primogeniture (boys only), baby Iman will not inherit the throne someday.

ANSWER

In 1990, a liberal Republican congressman (a now-extinct breed) from Vermont took some anti-gun votes that ticked off the NRA. In response, the group threw its support behind his opponent: an up-and-coming democratic socialist who, at the time, was much more pro-gun than he is today. Bernie Sanders won that race and is still in Congress 34 years later. You’ve got to imagine the NRA regrets that one, right?